Leave with a Full Cup

You can’t pour from an empty cup.

When I read Sara Garza’s words over on the blog last week my heart dropped. My daily hustle usually has nothing to do with me, much less me filling my cup. What is sad about it is, I think I have lost vision to what even goes IN the cup to fill it.

Can you relate?

Most of the time I feel frazzled, I'm not going to lie. I mean, I get out of bed, throw my hair up and power up for a great day. I look at my calendar - it all seems doable but within 10 minutes I already feel as if I'm being pulled in a million directions. You see, filling everyone else's cup is a priority!

More than likely you may work, you may be a stay-at-home mom, the primary babysitter, running the entire household, the PTO mom, the boss, the “uber” driver, a friend, a wife, the list goes on and on.

WE ARE THE BOMB!

But more than likely you don’t feel like it…WHY? Because we are running on empty!

We put everyone else's needs and hearts before our own and at the end of the day there are very few moments left for us. And if there is a moment, you feel guilty for taking it.

We have to change our mindsets! Being a mom doesn’t mean we left our identity in the delivery room. It means we just need a little pep talk and more support to get us through each day.

I think for me, it never even crosses my mind to fill my cup. I have tried to convince myself if everyone else's is full, in turn so is mine. It’s a harsh reality, but I’m empty! Empty...that's really harsh but the truth hurts sometimes.

If you’re running on empty then there is nothing even left to give, not even to yourself. When you’re empty, frazzled, frustrated, you’re a sinking ship and pulling everyone else on your ship down with you.

You have to fill yourself first. I’m preaching to myself too, I promise!

Let’s throw the guilt out the window! Let’s stop running on fumes and let’s take some time to refresh and renew. By refresh and renew I’m not saying go get a pedi or massage. I want you to dig deeper. We have to learn how to fill our cups in every moment so each moment we’re filling up instead of emptying out.

What’s under your skin? Who are you? What makes your heart sing? What makes you feel overflowing with joy? Do you know? Maybe you're like me and you’ve forgotten, you haven’t thought about in so long you have JUST forgotten. I’ve put a list together below that will help us all figure out how we can fill our cups for an overly full life in the midst of motherhood.

Grab a pitcher of water and a glass...let’s see if you can pass the drill.

Accept you’re not perfect.

We read blogs, we see posts on Facebook and pretty pictures on Instagram. Someone and everyone telling us how we can do it right or of course, wrong. For real, at the Founder’s Retreat with Thuy and Sara this past weekend, “the toxic gurus” had me even guilty for using Tide. Come on I buy Annie's snacks, isn’t that good enough!? LOL! Not really they didn’t, we all just do stuff differently. I think accepting your way as the best way can only set you up for winning.

You will do shit wrong, you will forget to pick up your kids, you will pick out the wrong snack for lunch or the wrong color socks, you will do a lot of things. But nothing changes your love for your life.

The world tells you to be perfect and all in all it's a huge straw sucking you dry. Get comfortable with setting your standard for perfection, and don’t lose sleep when you don’t get there.

If you can learn to accept leaning on an imperfect life, go ahead pour a little water into your glass.

2.Discover your inner beauty.

So most advice you hear is to go have a spa day, right? Take a day to relax. I don’t know about you but I need more than a day, let’s make it a month and then I’m in. Which there is nothing wrong with taking a day to unwind and relax but what I want us to realize is that we have to see ourselves from the inside out.

For instance my aunt recently had cancer, she lost her hair, most days she never had makeup on, she never felt like a spa day. Let’s face it she was sick! But I loved her and knew her heart, she was beautiful and radiant from the inside out.

Can you say that about yourself? Not just if you got sick, but right now? Can you say you are loving your inner self? Are you in love with the girl trapped inside of you?

If you can’t look at yourself and see your inner soul and your inner beauty it's time to fall in love again. Fall in love with the freckle on your nose, the giving heart you knew you always had...fall in love with your personality! You are worth it!

If you think you can look deep to discover your valuable traits...go ahead pour a little more into the glass.

3. Let’s get spiritual.

I don’t know your religious background or even how the word spiritual sets in your mouth but for most of us we believe that there is a higher power somewhere over the rainbow. Most days the hustle leaves us drained and if we wake up every morning knowing that our cup is going to be empty, well, sometimes it's hard to wake-up.

This can look different for everyone, for instance you may love yoga and practice meditation, emptying your worries to another power. It may come from you journaling your thoughts and emotions, express your heart on paper. This may mean reading your bible and spending time in prayer.

Your life isn’t all for not! You matter and your moments matter...and to more than just you!

If you think you can be inspired to reinforce a connection bigger than you...go ahead fill her up some more!

4. Make time for connections.

We are your life line, ladies. We are your tribe and we are here for you. You may have read our motto; motherhood is more fun with friends - it’s true! The best place to be filled is to surround yourself with people that get you. Someone to say…“I hear ya” and “I’ve been there.” Someone that says “Girl, I’m losing my shit, too!”

No, building friendship isn’t always easy. This is why our #Mother community is here for you. Feeling connected and understood as a mother is essential to making it to tomorrow without pulling our hair out. What I love most about this is not only are you essential to someone else but someone is also essential to you.

We need each other! We aren’t trying to fix each other, we aren’t here to judge each other but our community is here to tell you…

YOU'RE THE BOMB! START FEELING LIKE IT!

Head over to our #Mother community and introduce yourself to start making an instant connection. After that, take the rest of your water and filler up baby, filler up!